Make-It Monday and Happy Birthday, Barbie!

Today is Barbie's 50th birthday. She's looking pretty good for an old gal, isn't she? So, in honor of her birthday and the fact that it's Make-It Monday, I present for your enjoyment her best friend, Midge, wearing a hand-knit coat:

This coat is the only thing I've knitted. Quite a project for a young beginner -- I was probably about 10 or 11 years old at the time. I remember crying a lot while struggling to make this coat. This original version of Midge -- made in 1963 which makes her a young 46-- still wears, under the knitted coat, the two-piece bathing suit she came with as I didn't have much use for dolls as a child.
Here is Midge's sweet face. Gotta love those freckles!

And some info from Wikipedia about Midge:

Midge Hadley is a fictional doll character in the Barbie line of toys by Mattel that was first released in 1963.Midge was created, along with Skipper, to counteract criticism that claimed Barbie was a sex symbol. She was marketed as Barbie's best friend. No Midge dolls were sold for the rest of the vintage ears after the 1960s.

So, just how was Midge supposed to counteract the fact that Barbie was a sex symbol? She's built exactly as Barbie so the body's not the reason. Do sex symbols NOT have best friends? Or best friends with freckles? Or cute, flipped hair? Hmmmm...........